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I bought this 1960 400 from Taycotrains a couple years back now. I was missing a couple of the usual suspects, belt guard, throttle controls... I tracked down what I needed here and there and with the help of a couple RS members. Last fall I finally got around to disassembling the tractor and started to freshen things up. Currently I don't have access to a sand blaster so I used a combination of e-tank, chemical stripper sanding and wire brushes to get the parts down to clean metal for new paint. I've replaced some hardware as needed or just for personal preference. At the show this year I picked up a pair of '61 cast foot rests and cast brake pedal. There where two pieces that needed some repairs. First the hood had torn in two places where the rear tank strap was spot welded and second the hood stand was cut up at some point to accommodate a different engine. Learning as I went, I managed to weld the cracks from the tank straps without burning through the hood and when I was done (after I wiped the sweat from my face and unclenched my teeth) decided I didn't want to do any more welding on that thin original metal. One morning while having a coffee and perusing the forums I stumbled on Duke's RJ Hood stand modifications and decided I would do something similar. First, since I'm still tying to learn to weld, I wasn't going to modify an original part. I needed to build a RJ style hood stand that I could bolt onto the frame, then I could add some hood support and maybe even hang the tank from this structure instead of damaging the hood again. This is what I have so far...

I have a d160 with a loader, liquid filled tires, 55 pound wheel weights on each side and 250 pounds in the ballast box . Hydro wines some but I can dig holes all day with the rear ag tires. Never had them stop on their own. Hope this helps.

Saturday was my youngest grandson's 2nd birthday party. He is fascinated with tractors, and every time he comes to my house it's always "Papa's tractors" as the first words out of his mouth. So my daughter suggested that I bring my 701 to Grant's party. Since Grant's other grandfather was here from Wisconsin, and he is a tractor nut himself, we decided to have two tractors, and two carts so that all 11 kids could ride. So I loaded up the 701 and the Commando 8 along with one bathtub cart. My son-in-law had a cart already. Here we are. Two tractor nut granddads having the time of our lives. That's me of course in the funny hat. This is Hank, from Wisconsin on the Commando. We even had 3 young ladies from age 10 to 13 who wanted to learn to drive the tractors, so driving lessons were in order. After that, it was hard to keep them off the horses. An absolutely great time was had by everyone, especially the two old guys.

I have a 1975 C-120 Special that I have started working on and I was wondering ............. how many of these do you think Wheel Horse made? I believe they were only 1974 and 1975. I am not a fan of these Tecumseh engines since I have never had one yet that didn't pour gas out of the carb and the one HH-60 I did get running ( after I got a NEW carb ), ran terrible and smoked like a mosquito truck. I did get this one to run after I put a new carb off the HH-60. Now I am waiting for the right carb. Any way since we all like pictures, some before and some in progress pictures. Update: For your reference the serial # on my 1975 is 133663.

...and out of the mist comes a dinosaur with short little arms.

Had a great time at Olde Tyme Days! Good to see some friends! Dinner behind buckrancher's rig with jimt1971 and wife and rmaynard Me (Zeek) and Bob . . . I was trying to get his wallet full of tractor cash, but he wasn't having it . . . Mrs. Zeek (Sue), Bob and Mrs. Buckrancher (Jo)

Hi, I'm new to this forum, I just built a commando V8 for my grandson to pull. Second time out, stripped all teeth off the ring gear. Have not been able to find replacement parts or even replacement trans axle. Any help would appreciated. Thanks George

well i just have cleand up the wide rims i got to have on those tires.. and it was a big diffrent from the stock rims.... so here is some some pict of it.. id really like the wide look...!! Thanks Lars

I haven't played golf in like 30 yrs. I would drive you crazy! I hit long shots left handed but the short stuff I'm right handed. The very last time I played our band had a tournament. I was pretty much sucking but I came on to a par 4 dog leg to the left. First shot blew. 2nd shot I was like 50 yds from the hole. I was in no mans land. Left or right? The guys were letting me have it pretty good! I chose a pitching wedge from the right and sank it for the only birdie of my life! :bow-blue: Finally on 18, another par 4 I clobbered the tee shot. If it was baseball it would have gone into the center field restaurant in Toronto. My Dad operated the clubhouse for years and he never saw any body hit it that far. It was right outside the lounge window. I was like 60 yrds from the hole and it took like 28 shots to get it in! One night my brother and I played 9 First par 3 I hit the pin on the tee shot. Next par 3 my brother hit the pin with his tee shot. I Worked grounds for 2 years in high school at the course. lots of whacky stories.

Today I got the lights installed and the last thing to do was install the spec. plate for the engine. My old one was in sad shape so I bought a decal from Terry and had a new plate cut from aluminum. Turned out pretty good. Nice job, Terry! Some day I'll paint the letters on the front of the hood but for now, I'm done. One last shot, this one's for you, Bob.

Java. I love them. And I'm very thankful for this sight full of people like you guys that are so knowledgeable. This is my first tractor. And I just turned 20 so I'm still learning a LOT. Stevasaurus, what kind of headlights are on your tractor? Also, where do I find service bulletins?

I've been working on it off and on since I got it in Feb. of '09. Seems every time I had a little money to spend on it I'd find another Horse that I had to have. Some of the parts were a little hard to find but to me the search is part of the fun. Along the way I had an awful lot of help from several members here.

Believe that is one of a few that I removed the mower deck information/operator manuals and put them in with the mower decks to reduce the file size. Other than the decks it should be complete. Garry

Plan on setting up Thursday, bringing 3 tractors plus the porter cable and a Jacobson trim O. Camping till sunday.

Looked at a 520 F/S and the owner said it ran when he parked it, but the darn thing has a weak starter now! I figured out real quick the tractor was abused, but many attachments and another 314-H in great shape came with it at a nice price, so we loaded everything up and came home. Took 520 in shed and went to move flywheel...bound up....The pics should lead to the "weak" starter-Just wondering if anyone has had a starter issue like this? What caused the trouble?

Contact/send a PM(private message)to this guy... http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/user/85-kelly/ he's one of our parts vendors here on the forum, he'll help you out... or you can post your parts needs here... http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/93-kellys-tractor-salvage/ and he'll get back to you asap.

While I'm not a fan of the Onans, that could be the poster child for any brand of engine that is not maintained properly. Heads NEED to be removed and decarboned every 500 hours, even if they "sound and run great". Hopefully, after a good cleaning, it will serve you well.

WOW! That turned out amazing denny! I'll trade you my new case for it.

Owners manual and service manual are available to download at :http://www.kohlerengines.com/manuals/landing.htm

I learned something new about my tractor today. While cutting the grass I stopped to pick up some sticks - I disengaged the PTO, shifted into neutral and set the parking brake. Butt when I get off the seat (pun intended), the motor stops. sick back down - motor comes back on. So I check the under seat switch - OK. I check the clutch switch - OK. All else looks fine. Battery is charged fine.... turns out one PTO switch wire came off because the throttle cable hits up against it when I throttle up or down. Lesson learned today - all them switches are interconnected - if somethin' aint right check them all first. Tim

Get it running, bring it to the show and let Steve ride it around! Talk about a Circuis Bear on a Tricycle!

Are your arms long enough to golf???

Oh and just for looks ??? Dual chrome exhaust tips.

Rear view

Stephen, I sent you a PM, but am reposting here. I hadn't seen this thread until after our conversation. Hopefully this doesn't start a war... GO! D250's are a strange breed. They were Wheel Horse's Edsel and were a true international effort. American specs, German design, French engine, Italian steering gearbox.... They were extremely advanced for their time, but were sales flops. In 1976 1000 units were imported and sold over the next two years. 1978 brought in another 500 of a revised model, then 1979 brought another 500 of the improved version. WH listed them in the product listings into the early 1980's, so they weren't flying off the shelf. They even began to promote special credit terms, freebies, and rental store sales to move them. Anyway, the 1976 model is distinguished by its generator (as opposed to an alternator), single action hydraulics, and weaker transaxle. The 1978/79's had dual action hydraulics with 4 couplers on the front under the grille, an alternator, and a slightly revised transaxle mounting and linkage that greatly improved reliability. The dashboard on the 78/79's was also revised and improved and the engagement for the PTO moved from a foot pedal to a lever. The three point hitch on the 76's was not fitted with spherical bearing "eyes" on the draft links. Instead the lower hitch arms were just punched to accept the pins from the implement. Later model hitches had the eyes that were standard on every other three point hitch ever made... The 1976's in particular were plagued with self-destructing transaxles...especially when used for tilling or heavy ground work like plowing or loading. I don't reacall the entire set of peculiars, but the general explanation is that poor lubricant or low levels combined with excessive load caused the internal axle bushings to wear. The axle/differential would sag or move around a little bit and the worm gear teeth wouldn't mesh properly. Catastrophic failure would then result since the worm gear was made (as are most worm gears) of relatively soft bronze. The teeth would shear and the whole tranaxle would fail. Warranty replacements were apparently a huge cost for WH and Gutbrod. A real nightmare according to guys who were there at the time. In 1978 the revisions were slight - and again I don't remember everything - but the improvement was significant. I think the linkage was improved to make shifting more positive and engaged the gearing better. But the bottom end benefitted by a revised mounting angle of the transaxle housing to the frame that caused loads to be transferred internally differently. So the trans was much more durable. But still, if used too heavily they too were prone to letting go. One of the really critical things about their problems was the location of the oil fill plug in the transaxle housing. Going from memory, I think it's on the right hand side of the transaxle behind the right rear tire. To check the fluid, you almost have to remove the wheel. To fill the fluid, you might as well tip the tractor on its side since the framerail immediately above the check/fill port basically blocks access to the thing. So, many people neglected to check and maintain the transaxle. Coupled with the marginal design and high precision...you get the idea. Would I mow with one? Yep. Just be very anal about transaxle maintenance. Would I plow/blade with one? No. Would I run a tiller? No. Loader? No way! Apparently the tiller, which is pretty hard to find anyway, really was rough on these things. I'm not sure mechanically why, but I guess the constant pushing and pounding was hard on the axle and exacerbated the problems. In the old days before Redsquare, it wasn't uncommon to find random internet posts about blown D250 rears on tiller-equipped tractors. Really, the D250 was a precesion engineered piece of equipment. Unfortunately it was introduced into a market and dealer network that lacked the finesse required to keep 'em going and didn't even have the metric tools needed to work on them. The combinations of the machine's fussiness and bad maintenance and abuse probably did most of them in. I'm under the impression that dealers hated them. And man were they expensive. Like $5k in 1976. Charlie (Charlies D250) used his D250 extensively and even ran it in tractor pulls (I think). I know he complete disassembled and rebuilt his prior to any of this, so perhaps his was in perfect tune, a good one, or he was just lucky. Maybe he made some mods. Anyway, he ought to be on your contact list. Now, I really like the Edsels. They are very smooth running, quiet, and extremely powerful. The Renault engine used was rated at 19.9 hp, but the same engine configuration in other applications (Groundsmasters, forklifts, etc) cranked out 35+ hp. Same carb, timing, governor, etc. So the 19.9 hp rating was probably just a lie to get around the regulations that required seatbelts and ROPS. The 60" deck from the JD 400 used on these tractors mows beautifully and pumps a tremendous amount of air. The original intent was for the D250 to be an "estate" tractor. All it was supposed to do was mow and clear snow. But the size and power meant the desire to use it heavily was too great. So they got used as compact utility tractors. Fuel pumps on the engines tend to go bad over time as any mechanical/camshaft driven pump is apt to do. The Renault replacement is (or was last time I cared to look) hard to find and expensive, so replace it with an electric one if it dies. Other than occasionally on ebay, I've never seen a rebuild kit for the Solex carburator. Points, cap, and rotor are hard to find but I think Charlie has a source. By the way, I think one of the spark plugs cannot be taken out without removing the distributor...if I remember correctly. The ignition switch on the 76's is goofy with a really special key...push the key in to enable the ignition. Pull it out to shut it off. Rotate it one click for parking lights. A second click for headlights. I think the 78's have a more conventional switch. Waterpumps aren't a bad quality or bad design, but at this age they often go bad. I've been seeing them periodically on ebay, so somebody must have found a source. If you see one, buy it. The front/mid PTO shaft also serves double duty as the front axle pivot. Bearings here often get sloppy. Duane Baerpath knows how to replace them and I thought posted a source on here at one point. What else.... That's about the whole brain dump for now. If you want to rely on one for a weekly chore tractor I think you need to prepare yourself to be patient and creative. These aren't supported by WH anymore, so parts aren't really available. Engine parts can probably be found since Continental picked up the Renault industrial line a while back. But transmission stuff is extinct. Deere probably still has deck parts. The only differences between a 400 deck and a 250 deck are the hangers. Everything else is carryover from the Deere. I still have a 76 Edsel that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. I wouldn't buy another 76. A 78/79, definately. Just a better tractor all the way around. I see that the one you're considering is a newer one. Go for it. If it doesn't work out then it will probably be an easy resell. End of sermon, Steve